Bella Italia - Paddington — Restaurant in London

I just had the worst dining experience ever in this restaurant. We were there for my mum’s birthday and told the waitress (who was very rude from the beginning) that we would like to order brownie with candle. Well, waitress took the brownie without a candle. Surprise was ruined but I told the same waitress that brownie came without a candle, and she said “don’t tell me I’m busy”. I thought well it’s a bit odd then saw the manager and told him about the situation. He was quite nice and he apologised and brought a new cake with a candle. Then we ordered food and we told the same waitress (because others seemed busy) that we would like to have side plates. She rolled her eyes and ignored us. We found a different waitress and she was quite nice and she brought side plates. When we finished our food, my friend went to the till and paid our bill because we did not want to deal with this rude woman. When we were leaving, we said bye to manager and this woman came to us and she said “Hey you can’t leave without paying for your bill, you didn’t pay for your bill”. She was so angry she didn’t listen to what I was saying to her, finally her manager came and calmed her down. I was really disappointed and frustrated about the whole evening and I asked her if she has a problem. She said exactly “yes darling can’t you see I’m tired?”. Well, as a person who worked as a waitress in my university years, I can empathise with tiredness but is it really my problem? I took my mum for her birthday and everything is ruined because of this rude and unempathetic woman. The Manager apologised for what she’s done but I do not accept it, I don’t recommend this place to anyone. Horrible place with...

I dropped in for a quick lunch with my partner and ordered a starter, mains, side of garlic bread, and a desert to share. The starter was a simple and delicious mushroom dish, garlic flat bread was crisp and yummy, the prawn pasta was also delicious. Portion sizes were good for lunch but maybe a tad small for dinner, but the real disappointment was the desert which was a complete let down after a treat meal.

I ordered a tiramisu with high expectations given the high quality and flavour of the other dishes. I absolutely love a good tiramusi and happily travel far to find one when I can. It's such a simple yet complex dish. The savoiardi, ladyfinger biscuits dipped in bitter fresh espresso and maybe some dark rum or coffe liquor, layered between latherings of Zabaglione enriched with Mascarpone and the hint of masala wine, and dusted with finely grated dark bitter-sweet chocolate. It's such a perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness, alcohol coffee, and creaminess. One of the true great deserts of the world.

So imagine my disappointment when an otherwise great Italian restaurant serves me a tiramisu that is somewhere between an Opera cake, and a sticky toffee cake. No alcohol, no flavour of espresso, and no ladyfinger biscuits. I feel so disappointed that I'm tempted to leave a 1 star review, but that would be unfair given the great mains and entrees.

Just another small note for management, your service staff could do with being a LOT more friendly and welcoming. Giving me my bill before I've even finished desert just feels like you want to get rid of me as well.

Summary: great dinner, go...

I don’t usually leave reviews but we purposely walked 20 mins to go to a Bella Italia because of my previous good experiences of your food but was left wildly disappointed!!! I ordered a coke to then receive a pint of flat DIET coke with an old lemon slice as well as a bottled water for the table which we assumed would be free but was NOTTTT. The food arrived at the speed of light but was also wildly underwhelming and did not taste fresh, I assumed it was heated up in the microwave and it was in a MAHOOOSIVE POOL of oil, like a CRAZY amount and the mozzarella smelt off booo 👎. Our waiter Fabio was rude to his colleague and his service seemed incredibly rushed, which wasn’t helped by the female manager shouting at the hotel desk attendant (that is attached to the restaurant) in front of guests about service. The customers next to us then complained that they were given a meat calzone instead of a vegetarian one, which they didn’t seem to be compensated for or receive an apology. Neither of us finished our mains and skipped on desert (which we originally were looking forward to) 👎👎. Also the bathroom smelt god awful girl….

Incredibly disappointed with our whole experience at this location and paying almost £50 felt like daylight robbery fr.. I could’ve made tastier, better quality food myself at home. We will notttttt be returning anytime soon and instead will be attending your well trusted...